This invention relates to the field of infant incubators and, specifically, to an improved infant incubator having a unique mattress tray design that allows the infant to be removed from the controlled environment of the infant compartment to more fully access the infant and yet maintain a heating function for that infant.
In general, infant incubators are used to provide a protective, controlled environment for infants where the infant is in need of such environment. The environment is heated and includes controlled humidity conditions. It is, of course, important that the infant be maintained in that controlled atmosphere for the well being of the infant. In such incubators, various access doors are provided to gain physical access to the infant to carry out certain procedures on that infant and such access may be by the way of handholes such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,392 of Koch et al or a more complete access may be occasioned by the opening of a larger door where more access is needed to the infant.
There are times, however, that the need to carry out a procedure on the infant requires more access to that infant than can be carried out with the infant still within the infant incubator, that is, where the use of handholes or even opening the door is not sufficient for the attending personnel to carry out the procedure. At such times, the infant needs to be removed from the protective atmosphere of the infant incubator and remain outside that environment for the period of time the particular procedure is carried out on the infant. Obviously, the removal of an infant from that protective environment is disadvantageous to the infant since the needed heating may not be available to the infant. Other types of heating can be used, such as by use of a radiant warmer, however, that is not always possible and it is more convenient to be able to carry out the procedure on the infant without moving that infant to another location and causing additional disruption.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to be able to move the infant from the protective environment of the infant incubator to carry out such needed operations while keeping the infant in the locale of that incubator and yet provide some localized heating to the infant during the periods of time that it is outside the incubator environment.